It's Groundhog Day!

I can't believe January flew by!  Now that we're in February, I'm worried that's going to fly by too.  What's important for me is to acknowledge that I did pay off that huge debt and to move onto other things I want to accomplish.  I had another eventful weekend and that led me to decide what I'm giving up for Lent this year.  Let's see if I can make this happen!
Last weekend literally wore me out.  I did too much on Friday, and it crossed over onto Saturday.  I had such a sluggish week at work because I never caught up on sleep.  I was more upset of myself on handling too much.  For the record, I knew of the birthday celebration I had to go to that Saturday.  I should have rested up on Friday and not went out.  I took a hardcore nap that day, and when I woke up, I had to get ready again for dinner plans we made at Roka Akor.  I really did it this time!  I showered up and slicked my hair on a bun and off I went. 
I was late to dinner but luckily they sat the rest of the party down at our table.  I hate having people wait on me.  I had a million things running in my head but I knew it was time to relax and have some fun (AGAIN).  My nerves were getting the best of me but I did some reading beforehand to calm down a bit.  I hate getting nervous, especially when I have to be "on" around people.  At the end I realized I am a grown woman and can take care of myself, no matter what someone thinks of me.  I did take control of my nerves and worked the crowd.  I was there for the birthday boy and I wanted him to have fun.  Roka was having restaurant week and I decided on the pri fixe menu.  $44 set price included a cocktail drink; appetizer; main course and dessert.  Not bad!
After dinner we made our way to Fremont.  I've been to that location when it was American Junkie so it was nice seeing the new changes they made to the venue.  We made our way to the second floor where we had table service reserved for the birthday boy.  What started out slowly turned into an exciting night out!  We were dancing in no time!  I had so much fun there.  The crowd was getting smaller once we left Fremont, but the party didn't want to stop there.  We caught a limo on the way out and made our way to Shay.  I stayed out as late as I could but I was pretty beat.  At least the birthday boy enjoyed himself! 

Complimentary Cocktail!

Yellowtail sashimi for appetizers!





Black Cod for main dish.  Very buttery!

Table service at Fremont!

The birthday boy and me

 I had a blast!

Taking as many selfies as we can before we get to Shay...

Front door service...

 I can't believe I lasted this long!  I was super tired!!

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT...



Do what works for YOU!

During the first Saturday of the year, my friends wanted to catch up for a bit.  The holidays were officially over, and getting together seemed like the ideal thing to do.  The past 2 weeks were all about family.  I agreed to meet up because I always felt that your friends are your second family, (and sometimes they just "get" you).  Of course it fell apart quickly, and not everyone made it out as they promised to.  We originally met up at Old Town at Benchmark, a upscale sports bar.  College football was on tv and the crowd seemed pretty excited.  It's not my thing, but sometimes you have to go with the flow if you want to get out of the house. 
Once we realized our group was going to stay small, we made the most of it and caught up with one another.  At one point we decided to break up and head our own way.  I figured since I made the trip out in the first place, I would quickly checkout Y bar.   It's a pretty known fact that the weekend after the holidays it's dead EVERYWHERE from retail shops to the nightlife industry.  I saw some friends and then we all decided to head next door to Shay.  I was beat, but did make a promise to myself not to step out again unless we're celebrating something.  Going out for the sake of drinking and spending money is not on my list of things to do for 2016.
The following day was Sunday and the friends that did not make it out before wanted to hang out now.  I made my way over to Wicker Park for some Sunday Funday action, but again, the scene was dead.  I felt we kept "looking" for some action.  This did not appeal to me at all since I was on the verge of paying off my huge debt.  I realized I had to make a decision on what I was trying to accomplish for myself.  Unfortunately, I've reached the point where I'm bored of the scene and rather be at home drinking a glass of wine and reading my Italian work book.  It's all fun and games but when you have different financial goals than everyone else, you have to figure out what works for you.  Yes we did "catch up" but it seemed that we could have saved this for another time.  I knew right away that I wanted to do things differently this year. 
At the end of the day, you need to take care of yourself FIRST.  It may not be easy.  You can catch up with friends over the phone.  It's cheaper.  Me and my co-worker friends decided to follow up a savings plan to help us reach our goals for 2016.  I'm excited I have a little team going with this.  I think it will push us to strive as a group.

Unfortunately, not too many people out and about.  Check out the background!  lol

   
 

Monday Motivation!

Well here it is.  The last week of 2015.  Hope everyone had a great holiday!  I was off the past couple of days, so it's nice to go back to my regular routine.  A winter storm has arrived for us Chicagoans.  I'm glad I got a chance to spend my time off running errands before the slush came in.  It makes my world a lot easier since I don't own a car.  Regardless, I'm almost done recapping October events, but I am hopeful I will be up-to-date with my blogging by mid January.  Not a bad resolution to start off 2016!
Back in late October, my friend had some friends visiting in town from Rockford Illinois.  We decided to show them a night out in town by hitting a couple of spots.  It was fun because seeing their faces get excited about our nightlife is magnetic.  You start to appreciate the city even more on what it has to offer.
Up first, The Drop in Lincoln Park.  A friend was throwing a party there and we stopped by for a few.  I loved it because it felt like a nightclub in downtown.  If you want to go dancing in the Lincoln Park area, I highly recommend it.  They played top 40/ pop/ dance so everyone was up and moving.  It definitely got us geeked up for our evening.
Next stop, The Godfrey Hotel for some cocktails and people watching.  We got a chance to talk too since The Drop was jamming.  We lucked out on a beautiful night.  The rooftop was opened and we enjoyed the city view.
We walked over to the Lite nightclub and stayed there for a bit before heading across the street to Shay nightclub.  We heard Nelly was performing there so we were pretty excited.  It was a bit chaotic to get in, but luckily we made it in on time before the show started.  It was a packed house in there!  Nelly had the crowd going CRAZY!  That was pretty amazing for us to be a part of. 
Our friends really wanted to dance to some edm/house music after that, so we walked over to Spybar since it was right down the alley.  I loved the fact we got a chance to show our friends different venues in Chicago.  Too bad we didn't have more time to show them Hubbard Street as well. 
The following day was Sunday, so we all met up again in Wicker Park for some Sunday funday.  We hopped around some bars and had some quick bites before we ended up in The Southern for cocktails.  I think her friends had a good time because I sure did! 

Bathroom selfie at The Drop.  Since I didn't know what our plans were, I wore black and white to be safe.

Check out that view from the Godfrey Hotel's rooftop! 

Good times at The Godfrey!

Nelly taking a sip before his show!

Can you find us?  We're in here somewhere!  lol

Sunday Funday at the Southern.  We had some friends watching the Black Hawks there and we crashed their party.  lol

Cinco de Mayo bar crawl!!!

This definitely was one of my highlights so far this year.  It was completely unexpected and in the end, I had a blast with new people checking out new places.  My friend needed a favor to help volunteer a bar crawl in River North.  I had no plans so off I went.  Luckily the weather warmed up pretty quickly now that we entered May.  But Chicago was busy that day.  The NFL draft was being held in downtown, the Kentucky Derby and the Pacquio vs Mayweather boxing match was being televised, along with our Cinco de Mayo bar crawl.  There was traffic everywhere!  We made our way down to meet the people we were working with.  Everyone had a pretty good vibe we were going to have a successful event.  I've never done this type of thing, so I was excited to help in anyway I could.  We were stationed at Hubbard Inn to check the patrons in. 
First of all, I had no idea what goes on organizing an event like this!  It was an eye-opening experience for me, because I love to go out and have fun.  But there's a lot of hard work behind the scenes.  This is a business based off  making sure everyone is enjoying themselves.  I loved meeting the people who participated in the crawl.  A lot of them where out-of-towners who were visiting Chicago for the first time.  For the most part, my friend and I gave out drink tickets and checked off names; pretty simple stuff.  Yet the smiles we encountered made this worthwhile experience for me.  What a great Saturday I had! 

Hubbard Inn's complimentary tequila sunrise cocktail (with drink ticket).

They even had a mariachi band!

Next stop on the crawl, Municipal Bar!

Shay had a Kentucky Derby party!

Last spot, Epic's rooftop!

Good times with the bar crawl crew!